Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c17.56

c17.56

The cult of Yakshas and Yakshīs had deep roots in ancient folk-cults and its full influence reigns supreme in the art and literature of the classical renaissance. New lists of Yakshas were drawn up for each important place from Pushkalāvatī to Śūrpāraka and from Dvārāvatī to Tosalī as in the Mahāmāyurī. Many forms of Yakshīs were depicted on the railings conceived as 32 śālabhañjikā figures which owing to different dramatic poses were also known as Nāṭatthī (Nāṭakastrī). They were standardised as Ashṭakanyās and included in public processions, later on transferred to the temples in the form of Alasa Kanyās at Orissa, Prekshaṇikās of Rajasthan and Sura-Sundarīs of Saurashtra.